The Empire-Fagan Coalition's annual Town Hall drew hundreds of local residents to the Corona de Tucson Fire House.  The event, which focused on conservation and development issues in the community, featured panelists from the Arizona State Mining Inspectors' office, Pima County, and local conservation groups.  J.J. Lamb, of the Vail Preservation Society, gave the participants a sneak preview of the Society's movie about the Vail area.  And Pima County debuted their new 3-D model of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine, which caused quite a media stir (see clip).

After panelists' opening statements, the mics were opened for Q&A.  The community's concerns became quickly evident:

• water
• lack of enforcement of environmental regulations, especially dust violations from the Henderson Quarry at Wentworth and Sahuarita Roads (see sidebar on this page and in the Action section).
• water
• the perceived double standard that allows mines and quarries carte blanche to destroy the environment (and in the case of Rosemont, would dump millions of tons of waste rock on National Forest land), when residential parcels are held to strict development guidelines by Pima County
• did we mention water?

The Community Association in Corona de Tucson was gratified by the turnout, according to Association president Sandy Whitehouse. "The residents of the village closest to the Henderson/Lamb quarry and the Rosemont mine are gravely concerned by the possibility of impending environmental disasters. We appreciate our champions, led by Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll and his band of EFC stalwarts, Mike Carson, Charlotte Cook and Elizabeth Webb, who led the charge to bring the facts to our citizenry. We note that in spite of the media blitz extolling the Rosemont mine, Augusta/Sumatoma failed to field a team."